12 Years of Christmases
by As the Robin Flies
Summary: One Christmas time one-shot for each of the twelve canon next generation Potter/Weasley kids to get into the holiday mood. Go through twelve years and twelve kids and their early gifts and mistletoe kisses, visits and surprises, and other Christmas cheer.
1. Chapter 1: Victoire

Hey there everyone. Yes, I know, I should be working on HPNB, but then I was inspired by the season and all these plot bunnies started popping into my head. I don't think this one came out very good, or very Christmasy, but I did my best. Hopefully there will be another tomorrow, as I want all twelve chapters finished and posted by Christmas.

Anyway, here is Victoire's chapter, please read and enjoy. I promise better chapters in the future!

~Robin

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><p><span>Chapter 1:<span>

Christmas Eve with the Delacours or A Truly Excellent Christmas Present

If not for Teddy steadying her, Victoire most definitely would have fallen out of the floo when they stopped spinning and were spit out into the entry hall, which was decorated with tinsel and wreathes for Christmas, of the Delacour Estate, or 'Chez Delacour,' as it was more often called by the people who lived and visited there.

Teddy grabbed her shoulders and grinned down at her. "Thanks for that, Teddy," Victoire said, looking relieved, and slightly nervous.

"Your welcome," Teddy said. "You're covered in soot though."

Victoire looked down at herself and yelped, taking her wand out of the holster in her boot and silently performing a charm to remove all of the soot from both herself and Teddy.

"Hey, sis, you want to give that wand a wave over here too?" Louis asked, stepping smoothly out of the fireplace, soot resting on his hair and shirt. Victoire obliged, waving her wand over her brother before putting it away.

Next out came her mother, then Niki, and finally her father, who muttered a spell to lock the floo going into their house behind him. Fleur cleaned the rest of them off with a quick flick of her wand before there was a crack and a house-elf appeared next to them. "Hello," he said in flawless English. "If you would follow me, Madame et Monsieur Delacour are waiting in the parlor for you."

Teddy looked at Victoire and bent to whisper in her ear. "This is a _lot_ different than going to see Grandma Molly and Grandpa Arthur."

"It's only this formal right at the beginning. The house-elves insist on keeping the appearance to outsiders formal so this is how they bring everybody to meet Mami and Papi. After we've been 'announced' everything will be more like at the Burrow, although not exactly the same."

Teddy nodded. He had met her Grandparents before, of course, but the last time had been at Gabrielle's wedding when he was ten, which was almost ten years ago. And that hadn't been at their home, of course, but at the chapel and hall where the wedding and reception had been.

They walked down the wide hallway just a short ways until they reached a double wide entry to a nice parlor, where four people were already sitting and speaking in rapid french.

"Monsieur, Madame, the rest of your guests have arrived," the house elf announced, bowing and waving the group in before disapparating away with a pop.

"Fleur, ma cherie! Eet 'as been too long," Madame Delacour exclaimed, standing up and kissing Fleur on each cheek.

Even at her age she was a very beautiful woman, being half veela. Her rotund husband stood after her. He was the first to notice Teddy. "And who eez zis young man?" he asked, gesturing towards Teddy.

"Papi, this is my boyfriend, mon copain, Teddy," Victoire said, stepping forward and dragging Teddy up with her.

"Ah, oui, I remember now. Ze last time we saw you, you must have been only zis 'igh," Monsieur Delacour said, chuckling as he gestured to a point around his waist, considerably lower than Teddy's.

"It's a pleasure to meet you again," Teddy said, holding out his hand to shake. The two men shook hands before Madame Delacour swept down on Teddy, planting light kisses on both of his cheeks. He blushed profusely.

Greetings were finished and the large group sat down as the house elf served them all coffee and pastries. Victoire started talking to Gabrielle, who was her godmother, and her husband, Andrew, who had been born in England, but moved to France when he was very young, in rapid French. Madame Delacour swept her daughter and her two younger grandchildren into conversation, leaving the men to talk to Teddy.

"So, Teddy, you are Victoire's age, non?" Monsieur Delacour asked.

"Oh, no, I'm nineteen. I actually graduated two years ago," Teddy replied easily.

"Ah, and what do you do?" the older man asked.

"Well, my first year I spent learning how to become an animagus along with other advanced Transfiguration. I'm a metamorphmagus, so it's always been a very interesting topic for me. This year I started teaching at Hogwarts," he explained quickly.

"So you teach Victoire?" Monsieur Delacour questioned.

Teddy bit his lip, hoping that he didn't think that the two of them dating was inappropriate. "That would be correct," he answered nervously. He saw Bill laughing behind his hand. A similar line of questioning had gone on the first time Teddy had gone to Shell Cottage after he and Victoire had begun dating, despite having known the oldest Weasley brother for his entire life.

"Tell me zen, eez she a good student? I hear all of zese scores... OWL's? But I do not know what zey mean," he said, almost conspiratorially.

"Oh, she's an excellent student. She's Head Girl this year. Her best subject's charms. In fact, I heard from Professor Flitwick, the charms teacher, that he was considering asking her to help with his first-year class later this year," Teddy said proudly, finishing the last part in a whisper so that Victoire wouldn't hear.

"I'm glad to hear zat," Monsieur Delacour finished.

The group continued talking for a little while longer before dinner was announced and they made their way to the dining room. The meal was delicious, although as it was French, that would be expected. They were renowned for their cuisine after all.

After dinner the group split in two. Bill, Fleur, and the Delacours retired back to the sitting room, while Teddy, Victoire, Gabrielle, Andrew, Niki, and Louis all went to the kitchen.

Gabbrielle took out drinks, butterbeer for Niki and Louis, and Firewhiskey for the rest of them. Even Victoire didn't turn it down, although she would have if it was at school. After all, when she was there she had to fulfill her role of Head Girl, while there, she was relatively free of responsibility, other than making sure her siblings didn't get drunk.

Soon, the firewhiskey had loosened everyone's tongues and Niki and Louis were looking on in delight at their older sister letting loose, which she didn't often do. "So Gabby, I remember Andrew being handsome when I first met him, but I don't remember him being hot," she stage whispered with a wink. "Nothing compared to you, of course, Teddy," Victoire added, slipping her hand into his and giving him a sloppy kiss on the cheek.

Teddy, who held his alcohol much better than Victoire did, had the sense to keep her from getting anymore firewhiskey into her system. "I think that's enough," he said, pushing her glass away from her.

"Probably," Victoire agreed, nodding happily. She was a very agreeable drunk.

Niki suddenly looked down at her watch and sighed unhappily. "I think we have to go. It's getting late," she said regretfully, frowning.

"Zat's too bad," Gabrielle said. She was also slightly drunk and her accent had become more pronounced the more alcohol she had ingested.

"Let's go, Vic," Teddy said, standing and pulling his girlfriend up with him. She willingly stood and wrapped one of her arms around his waist. He put his over her shoulders and was relieved that they were both steady on their feet.

"We'll walk you to the floo," Andrew said, taking Gabrielle's hand and leading them out of the room and down the long, wide hallway back to the front entryway where the floo was.

"There's a note," Niki said, pointing to the mantle where a piece of parchment was stuck with a sticking charm. "It's from Maman. She said that they went home and we should just floo back and that we have to be at the Burrow by eleven tomorrow so we should try to come back at a reasonable time."

"Ah, it's just like Maman. She's telling us what to do without actually commanding it," Louis laughed. "Well, as Teddy and Vic are both slightly drunk, we should probably each take one of them back," he said to his twin.

"No, I'm gonna do a sobering charm," Victoire said, stopping them. They raised their eyebrows at her. "Even slightly drunk I can still do a simple charm," she defended, rolling her eyes. She waved her wand and the fog immediately lifted from both her and Teddy's minds.

"Much better," Teddy said. "Let's go. It was great to see you again," he said, turning to say goodbye to Andrew and Gabrielle.

"And you, Teddy," Andrew said. "Come on, Gabs. Let's get you to bed," he said, leading his drunk wife back to their guest room. Somehow, he had managed to stay relatively sober.

The foursome flooed in pairs back to Shell Cottage and Niki and Louis went to bed, leaving Victoire and Teddy alone to say goodnight.

"I don't want you to leave," Victoire sighed, winding her fingers with his and pressing her forehead against his as he stood by the floo, ready to go back to his flat.

"And I don't want to leave you," Teddy said, "but I have to."

Victoire nodded and kissed him deeply before releasing his lips. She was closer to him now, his arms wrapped around her waist.

"Now I really don't want to go," Teddy said, chuckling.

Victoire thought for a second. "Then I'll go with you," she said. He was about to open his mouth to protest but Victoire explained first. "No objections. We're not going to do anything, except snog and then sleep. Then, in the morning, we'll floo to the Burrow together and meet everybody else." Teddy sighed, knowing he couldn't win. "We're spending our first Christmas together, and we're going to wake up on our first Christmas together in each other's arms. I'll just leave a not to Dad and Maman and then we can go," she finished.

Teddy couldn't help but watch as she walked away to find a quill and parchment. She was amazing. And this would be a truly excellent Christmas present-at least until everybody else found out about it.

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><p>So, like? Dislike? Either one, leave a review and give me some feedback. Plus they're inspirational if you really want another chapter tomorrow!<p> 


	2. Chapter 2: Dominque

Hello again, all! I must say that it was lovely to get such a good response from the last chapter. Here's Dominique's chapter. It's a bit shorter... okay, a lot, but I didn't want it to just ramble on. Plus, I think I like it better anyway. Don't worry, though, there will be longer chapters when I get to the characters with a bit more of a story behind them.

By the way, I won't be going in age order or anything.

~Robin

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><p><span>Chapter 2<span>

Snow on Christmas Eve Night or Snowball Fights in the Middle of the Night

Niki was woken up by a knock on the window next to her bed. She rolled over and peeked between the curtains to see the one and only Daniel Jordan, her boyfriend, sitting on his broom and grinning wildly.

She opened the window and let him inside, being careful to be quiet so that they wouldn't wake the rest of the sixth-year Gryffindors. "What are you doing here?" Niki asked him, laughing quietly.

"It's snowing," Dan told her, still grinning broadly.

"Yes, but that doesn't tell me why you're here," she said, slowly and carefully.

"Well, it's our tradition that the first snow of the year we have a snowball fight, right?" he asked, eyes gleaming with mischief.

"Yes..." Niki said, starting to figure out where he was going with this.

"Well, let's go," he said eagerly, grabbing his broom again.

Niki thought about it. There was plenty of snow, that was obvious. And it was sweet of him to think of her when he saw it was snowing. And she could cast a warming charm so that they wouldn't freeze. "Alright, but I have to change first," she said, gesturing to the thin t-shirt and flannel pants that she wore and pajamas. Dan nodded. "Turn around. No peeking."

He obeyed and Niki quickly changed into a thick pair of jeans and a long-sleeved shirt. Then she pulled on her coat, gloves, hat, and scarf before she was ready. She grabbed her wand and cast warming charms on both herself and Dan.

"Ready?" he asked, pulling her onto the back of his broom and opening the window again.

"I'm the better flier here, of course I'm ready," she said, rolling her eyes and wrapping her arms around his waist as he shot away from the window and flew them to the quidditch pitch, which was out of sight of the castle, but flat, so they wouldn't trip on anything hidden under the snow. It was supposed to be fun, not painful.

They touched down and Niki hopped off the broom before bringing him in for a kiss, touching her lips to his before removing them after a lingering kiss. She immediately bent to the ground and formed a snowball before throwing it-hard-into his face before he even processed what had happened.

Then she ran. Fast. She ran across the quidditch pitch, occasionally bending over to scoop up another handful of snow to form into a snowball and throw behind her. She hit him almost every time. When she reached the end of the pitch she was panting and laughing, her face flushed from running.

Dan tackled her to the ground, pushing her down into the snow and tickling her sides as she squirmed beneath him, forming another snowball as she laughed. She brought her hands up around his next and he leaned down to kiss her. As soon as his lips were on hers', she stuffed the handful of snow down the back of his coat and he jumped up trying to get the snow out before it melted down his back.

"You're dead," he said, grinning at Niki before starting to chase her again.

The two of them kept chasing each other and both were covered in the still-falling snow by the time they had exhausted each other.

Now they were lying next to each other in the snow, Niki having renewed their heating charms. Niki was curled against Dan's side as they lay there quietly.

"This was fun," she said after a few minutes.

"Definitely," Dan agreed. "I knew it would be, that's why I came to get you, you know."

"Well, no duh," she replied, rolling her eyes at him.

"You're such a cynic," he chuckled, holding her closer. She put her head on his chest, listening to his heartbeat through the several layers of clothing he was wearing. She sighed in contentment.

"Can you believe that this time last year we were biting each other's heads off?" she asked.

"I really can't," he replied. "So much has changed in the last year and a half."

"And I think a lot's going to change in the next one," Niki told him. "Have you noticed how Lou and Jo have been acting?"

Dan laughed out loud, his chest moving up and down under her head. "Yes, it's obvious that they're flirting to everybody but them. I just don't get the two of them sometimes. Louis always walks on such thin ice around her, and she's always blushing around him. They act nothing like themselves. It's ridiculous," he finished, still chuckling.

"Yeah, we'll have them together by next Christmas," Niki said, smiling.

"Agreed," Dan said, turning to kiss her gently until he felt something cold once more stuffed down his back. "Again? Really?"

"Well, third times' the charm, isn't it?" Niki asked cheekily.

"Come on, we should get back before anyone notices we're gone," Dan said, taking her hand and leading her back to where the broom had been discarded earlier. It was now covered by about an inch of new snow, but luckily hadn't sunk down and been lost in the flat white field.

They flew back to Niki's dorm and she climbed carefully off the broom before giving him a soft kiss goodbye. "Merry Christmas," she whispered.  
>"Was that my only present?" Dan asked, pouting.<p>

"Of course not," Niki scoffed. "Well, as long as it wasn't mine. Then I'd have to keep your present for myself."

"You wouldn't!" he gasped dramatically.

"Of course not, you prat! Now go, so I can get some sleep," Niki laughed, closing the window as he flew the last short distance to his dorm.

She undressed and pulled her pajamas back on before almost falling into bed, dropping quickly into sleep to await the next morning.

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><p>Hope you liked it! Leave a review whether you did or didn't. I want to hear the feedback. It's inspiring.<p>

Next chapter: Louis


	3. Chapter 3: Louis

Hey again! Phew, just barely making the deadline tonight. I literally sat down with no idea what I was going to write about for this chapter-besides the pairing-and the words just came to me, so let's thank the Muses influence on me tonight.

Alright, well, I hope you like this one. I think it's the best so far. Plus it's the longest, which is always an added bonus.

~Robin

P.S. I learned that '~' actually means not, which means that I always sign 'not Robin'. Just thought that was interesting.

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><p><span>Chapter 3<span>

Sneaking Out on Christmas Eve or Twinkle Lights on the Hillside

Louis plopped down next to Joanne on the couch, putting his arm over her shoulder.

"What are you doing?" she asked him, laughing as she pushed his off of her.

"Sitting on the couch," Louis said slowly, as though that should have been obvious.

"You know what I mean," she retorted, rolling her eyes at him.

"Well, as you know, today is Christmas Eve," he started, before pausing. She nodded. "Well, I have something really important to show you tonight. Would you be willing to sneak out?" he asked mischievously.

"I don't know, Louis. It's Christmas Eve," she said.

"Yes, I just said that," he smirked.

"Prat. What I mean is that I should really spend it at home, with my family," she told him.

"You're spending the day here with me and Niki and Dan," Louis pointed out.

"I know, but it's not the same thing. Christmas Eve night is family time, you know. I know that you always spend it at home with your family and then the whole clan gathers on Christmas Day. Well, it's like that in my house too," Joanne told him honestly.

"I don't mean to use your evening. You just have to come out for a little while, maybe an hour, around eleven. Kyle and your parents will be asleep by then, right?" he questioned.

"I suppose..." she answered.

"Then you'll come?" he asked. "I promise. It'll be really cool."

"Alright, alright, you've convinced me. Where should I meet you?" she asked him, laughing at the eager expression on his face. It was so uncommon for him to be that excited about anything, excluding food and quidditch, of course.

"Sounds good. Eleven o'clock sharp and you can just apparate right outside," he told her.

"Alright," she checked her watch. "I should go home now, though. The earlier I'm back the earlier they'll all be asleep, right?" she joked.

"Sure," Louis snorted.

"Well, I'll see you later then."

"Cool, sounds good," Joanne said before grabbing her coat and disapparating back to her house with a quiet pop. She wondered what he wanted to show her...

It was ten forty-five and her family had all retreated to their bedrooms. She could hear her father snoring from the next room over, and her brother fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow, so she was certain that he was also asleep. The only person she had to worry about was her mother, which was lucky. Even if her mother caught her sneaking out, as long as Joanne explained where she was going, she wouldn't be scolded or punished. Thank Merlin.

She quickly slipped her boots on and put her wand into the pocket of her jeans before sneaking down the stairs, realizing too late that she should have put her shoes on at the bottom as she heard her parents' bedroom door open behind her, the latch clicking once more as her mother closed it behind her.

"Where are you off to this time of night?" Victoria Dursley asked as she walked over to her only daughter.

"I'll explain downstairs," Joanne said, leading her mother down the flight of stairs so that they were in the living room.

"Well?" Victoria asked.

"Okay, so, earlier today, Louis told me that he had something 'really cool' to show me, but that I'd have to sneak out after dark to see it," she explained quickly.

Her mother's expression softened. She knew how Joanne felt about Louis, that she wanted him to be more than just her friend, or her best friend's brother.

"Is it just the two of you?" she asked.

"It sounded like it, but I didn't want to get my hopes up," Joanne replied honestly.

"Oh, Joey," Victoria said, hugging her daughter quickly. "I hope things work out for you, I really do," she added sincerely. "Now, you'd better grab your coat and everything before you go. Who knows what kind of goose chase that boy's going to lead you on?"

"Yes, Mum," Joanne laughed. She quickly donned her hat, gloves, and scarf before buttoning up her coat and opening the door.

"One more thing, Joanne," Victoria called. Joanne turned around. "Good luck."

"Thanks, Mum," Joanne said, before stepping outside with a smile on her face and closing the door quietly behind her. She checked her watch-perfect timing-and apparated off of her porch and into the darker-than-night void that was apparation before landing with a quiet pop and a gasp of breath rushing into her lungs right in front of Shell Cottage. Louis was already waiting for her on the walk, also dressed in a coat, hat, and the rest. And he was holding a broom.

She absolutely abhorred flying. Her first time on a broom had involved falling off and breaking her ankle, leaving her in a cast, although luckily only for a couple of days, thanks to Madame Pomfrey's incredible healing skills. "You came!" Louis greeted her as she walked the shorts ways down the walk to meet him.

"You sound surprised," she said. "Niki and Dan aren't coming?"

"Nope, just us two," he replied. Joanne felt butterflies in her stomach. Sure, she was alone with Louis all the time, whenever Niki and Dan snuck off, but this was different. This was him specifically asking to hang out with her, knowing that it would be just the two of them.

"Sounds great," she said, smiling despite her fear of the broom in his hand. "But what are we doing? And what the hell do we need the broom for?"

"Well, I wanted to show you something, but you can only see it properly from the air, and I though, that since you trust me, you might at least be willing to share the broom. I promise on my veela blood I won't let you fall," he swore, covering his heart with his hand, the corners of his mouth almost twitching into a smile.

"Okay, but if you let me fall, you're a dead man," she told him sternly.

"Fair enough," he agreed jovially. He was awfully jolly. Although it was Christmas Eve, so that might have been an acceptable reason. "We don't have to fly anywhere yet, though. First we have a short ways to walk," he told her.

They walked quietly together, mostly talking about Christmas with their families and the party that was always hosted at the Potters' the day after, which they would both be going to, of course.

Soon, they arrived and Louis told her to stop. She could just faintly see a little pricks of light in the distance, but they weren't stars. They were too close to the ground to be stars. Joanne may have fallen asleep in Astronomy too many times to have gotten an O on her OWL, but she knew that much about the night sky.

"What are those?" she asked Louis, pointing towards them.

"Ah, well you don't want me to ruin the surprise, do you?" he asked her. She grinned and looked at him curiously as he rummaged in his pocket. Eventually, he seemed to have found what he was looking for and took a long piece of black cloth out of the pocket of his coat and he held it out to her. "Okay, for it to really be good, though, I'm going to have to blind-fold you," he told her regretfully.

"You promise not to let us crash while you're untying it?" she asked him, raising her eyebrows. He nodded. "Fine. Blind me."

He moved behind her and carefully covered her eyes, making sure that none of the moonlight could get in before tying the cloth firmly at the back of her head.

"Alright, feel for my back and climb onto the broom behind me," Louis commanded, giving her his hand as a point of reference.

Joanne carefully felt her way onto the broom until she was sitting right behind Louis, he legs brushing his and her arms wrapped tightly around his waist and she tucked her head against his back, breathing in his soothing smell of cinnamon and pine that seemed to always be hovering around him. She couldn't help but feel content in her position, even if it _was_ on a broom.

He counted down from three before pushing off the ground hard enough to get them into the air without going too quickly for her. They flew for about five minutes before he stopped them in midair. Joanne wasn't exactly sure how high up they were, but she knew they were pretty high. They had to be. It was much windier up here than in had been down below.

Louis took out his wand and muttered a stabilizing and extension charm to stop the broom from moving in the wind and to make it so that it was more the thickness of a rock wall than a broom handle. He turned himself and Joanne so that they were sitting sideways on it next to each other, their feet dangling down into oblivion.

Then he gulped once with nerves before untying her blind-fold. She blinked open her eyes. "Look down," he told her in a hoarse whisper.

She did, and whatever she had expected, it was not this. Spelled out in glittering letters of Muggle Christmas lights spread over the hillside below them, was one sentence: 'Will you go out with me?' She gasped, her breath catching in her throat, and for a few moments, she froze. "Lou..." she said.

Louis was sure that he had made a mistake. That she would never go out with a player like him, that she was too respectable for that. "It's alright, Jo, if you don't, you know, want to. I just, I've liked you for a long time, and, and I thought I'd ask," he stammered, swallowing nervously again.

"Oh, Louis," she breathed. "It's perfect. It's beautiful, it's sweet, and it's absolutely perfect," she exclaimed, eyes watering from tears of joy.

He looked at her hopefully. "So that's a yes, then?" he asked, shocked.

"Yes, of course it's a yes. I'd be honored to go out with you," she said, smiling.

"So what do you say about being my date to the 'Potter Christmas Ball'?" he asked, using air quotes.

"I'd love to," she said, smiling widely at him.

"It's a date," he replied. Then, to make the moment even more perfect than he already had, he moved his hand to brush her cheek, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear, and tilted her chin up, touching his lips gently to hers. Then stayed like that for a minute or two, until they ran out of breath, the only other parts of them touching their hands entwined together on the handle of the broom.

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><p>Hazzah! Another chapter come and gone. Now I'm going to go respond to all my reviews. If you review this chapter you'll get a response too. *nudge nudge wink wink*<p>

Next Chapter: Fred (it starts to go all out of order now)


	4. Chapter 4: Fred

Bonjour! I swear that I use a different greeting for every chapter-completely by accident, of course. Anyway, here is chapter four, and it's a good one. I think that it's probably in my top five of the twelve chapters. Maybe at the end of the story I'll rank them based on which are my favorites. Anyway, it's about Fred, and I hope you like it.

~Robin

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><p><span>Chapter 4<span>

Spending Christmas Alone or Christmas Eve Kisses Made Two Easy Ways

"That was brilliant," Fred whispered, chuckling, as he and James made their way through the dark corridors and back to Gryffindor Tower.

"It was, wasn't it?" James whispered back, beaming proudly. The prank on the Slytherins had been all his idea after all. Their Christmas presents were all collected, but were yet to be placed on their beds for the next morning. James and Fred had found where they were kept and performed color-changing charms so that the wrapping paper, rather than being green and silver as it was for mot of them, was red and gold. It was still Christmas colors, but also Gryffindor.

"Yep, they'll be pissed off, but it's not anything that somebody can prove and they won't be able to pin an actual crime to us even if they _do _find out," Fred said, still chuckling. "We didn't really do anything wrong except for being out in the corridors after curfew."

"Exactly," James agreed. The two boys continued walking under the invisibility cloak for a few minutes, occasionally glancing at each other and bursting into another round of chuckles. They were just winding down once again when the two boys were frozen in place in the middle of a set of stairs.

As one, they looked up only to see a sprig of magical floating mistletoe hanging serenely above them. "Damn it," James swore.

"Maybe we could blast it away," Fred said hopefully.

"Won't work. The charm has already been put on us. We can't move our feet from this spot," James grumbled.

"What if we wait until the morning and get some girls to kiss us or something?" Fred asked, the brilliant idea occurring to him. Unfortunately, at the look on James' face, he knew that wouldn't work.

"Can't. It has to be the two people who were stuck under the mistletoe," James said in a monotone.

"Damn it!" Fred said. "Well, let's get it over with."

James nodded. Fred grimaced at what he was about to do. He hadn't even kissed a girl yet, and here he was, about to have his first kiss, and it was with his cousin. His _male_ cousin. Gross. He steeled himself and leaned forward, brushing his lips across James' so quickly that it barely counted as a kiss. Thank Merlin that was all the mistletoe needed. If it had lasted any longer he probably would have preferred to just stand there for the rest of his life.

He stepped quickly away from James and wiped his mouth on the back of his hand. James did the same, grimacing. They walked in silence back to the portrait hole, and, before whispering the password to the Fat Lady, James spoke. "We never speak of this again. Ever."

"Agreed," Fred said, nodding. They entered the common room and James took the cloak back to Al's room as Fred collapsed onto a couch. He was going to wait until James was definitely asleep before he went upstairs. He wasn't going to look at his cousin until the next morning, when he would be able to pretend that it was all a disgustingly disturbing dream that he had had and the two of them could go back to normal.

He moved to spread out on the couch, laying down, and accidentally kicked something that shouldn't have been there. "Oi!" the object that shouldn't have been there grunted.

Fred realized it was a girl, Alex, from his year, and that she had been sleeping in a huddle under a blanket, which explained why he hadn't noticed her. "Oh, sorry, I didn't see you there," he apologized, moving back into a sitting position at the other end of the couch.

"That's alright, Fred," she said, waving him off and sitting up too, wrapping her blanket around her shoulders. He recognized it as being a Pride of Portree blanket. Not his favorite team, but they weren't too bad.

"You a Portree fan?" he asked her curiously, gesturing to the blanket. He hadn't ever really talked to her all that much before, or even paid her much notice. She was just a girl in his house and year and most of his classes that didn't make much of an impression on him.

"Oh, yeah, my Dad used to play for them when I was younger. They've always been my favorite," she said, smiling almost sadly.

"Is something wrong?" Fred questioned. He didn't want to have upset her. In fact, he felt slightly protective of her, like he didn't want anything to hurt her.

Alex sighed. "Not really. It's just, I wanted to stay at Hogwarts this year for Christmas, just to experience it, but it'll be my first Christmas without Mum and Dad, so I've just... I've been a bit homesick, I guess," she said slowly.

"I know what you mean. It's my first Christmas away from them, too, and Roxy. I won't get to carry her out of bed and down the stairs like I usually do. I wonder if Dad'll be up to the job instead," he mused, smiling. He really did miss his little sister. Alex smiled weakly, and then Fred had an idea. "Hey, I know something that'll make you feel better," he said excitedly.

She raised an eyebrow. "What?" she asked intrigued.

"Well, James and me, we were just out playing a prank on the Slytherins. You see, we found where the house elves keep the Christmas presents until they're ready to be delivered, so we found the Slytherin pile. All of the wrapping paper was green and silver."

"Typical," she snorted.

"Extremely," Fred agreed, grinning. "Anyway, so we decided we'd change all the paper to be red and gold, so that it was still Christmassy, but it was Gryffindor colors too..." he finished.

Alex laughed out loud. "That's great," she said. "I just wish I could see the looks on their faces tomorrow morning when they see the piles of red and gold boxes sitting at the ends of their beds rather than what they expected. They'll probably think that they got our presents instead."

"Oh, if only we could sneak in," Fred said wistfully.

"You don't know where their common room is?" Alex asked him, surprised. James Potter and Fred Weasley, notorious pranksters, not knowing where one of the common rooms was. That was unthinkable.

"Of course we know where it is!" Fred huffed. "Unfortunately, though, we aren't friends with any Slytherins, so we don't know the password, and that's the most difficult part," he explained.

Alex nodded and there was a small lull in their talk. Finally she spoke. "Okay, so I told you why I was down here, are you going to tell me why you are?" she asked curiously.

"Didn't I say I just got back from pranking?" Fred asked, chuckling nervously. She just looked at him, both her eyebrows raised. He sighed. "Fine, but you never speak of this again. To anyone."

She nodded eagerly and Fred sighed again. "Okay, so we were joking as we walked back and weren't paying attention to where we were going, so we didn't see the mistletoe that was floating over the stairs." Alex started to smile, seeing where this was going. "Anyway, it was the magical stuff that forces you to kiss the person you get trapped under it with or else you can't move your feet from where they are ever again, even if you manage to get rid of the mistletoe," he concluded.

"So you had to kiss James?" Alex asked laughing. Fred glowered at her as her quiet laughs, almost like bells, spread through the room. Then he was laughing too, realizing that, someday, this would make a good story to tell his kids or grandkids or something. He smiled at the thought and the two of them eventually calmed down, to find that they were sitting much closer together than they had been, arms brushed when they spoke.

"I have to tell you, it was disgusting, and I doubt I'll ever recover," Fred told her, shivering at the thought with a grimace on his lips.

"Think on the bright side," Alex suggested cheerfully. "At least if, during a game of truth or dare or something, somebody asks if you've had your first kiss, you'll be able to say that you did," she told him, shrugging.

He looked at her uncertainly. "Yes, but I'm also going to have the feeling of _James_ on my lips until I manage to get another one," he joked, trying to break the tension. It didn't work. She smiled slightly, but her happy mood was gone. "What's wrong?" he asked quietly. "Have you-er-not had your first kiss yet?"

"Why should I tell you?" she asked him, turning to look into his eyes.

His gaze met hers, his blue ones staring into her chocolate brown orbs that seemed to take up much more of her face than most people did. They were wide as they met his. The two teens seemed to shift closer to each other without meaning to.

He reached up and pushed a loose strand of hair behind her ear. "Maybe," he breathed, "so that, if you haven't, I could help you out with that."

"Yeah?" she asked, unintentionally leaning closer.

"Yeah," he confirmed. His hand was still hovering over her cheeks as he leaned forward and slightly down-he was very tall for a fourth-year-until his lips met hers. Her eyes fluttered closed and his closed too, blocking out any sense but the feeling of her lips on his, the smooth skin of her cheek under his fingertips and then his hand as he slowly cupped the side of her face, bringing her lips more strongly against his as they moved, oh-so-carefully, against hers.

She pulled back after a short time and his eyes opened, his hand dropping to his knee. He leaned back, blushing slightly. "Sorry," he muttered. "I-I should have asked."

"No," she said, shaking her head at him. "It was nice. Thank you."

"So was I your first?" he asked her curiously, after a moment of silence.

She gave a breathy laugh. "Yeah, you were. Was I your first girl?"

He chuckled. "Ugh. Thanks for bringing that up again. And yeah, you were," he confided, mimicking her answer. "Although, now that you've brought James up again, you might have to do it again," he said earnestly.

"Yeah, right," she snorted. "You just want me to kiss you again." Fred blushed slightly, shrugging nonchalantly, a small smile on his face. "It's alright. I'd be happy to. But only if you promise that it isn't the last one."

"I wouldn't want it to be, Alex. I know I've never really paid that much attention to you, but after talking to you tonight, I like you. You're sweet, and you're funny, and I want to find out more about you, other than that you get homesick and your dad played for Pride of Portree," he told her honestly.

"Really?" she asked him, the corners of her mouth turning up.

"Yeah, so, I guess what I'm trying to say, is, well, will you be my girlfriend?" he asked her. He sincerely hoped it was the right question.

"I-yeah, I will," she said, taking the hand that he had put on his leg in her own and winding their fingers together. "Now where's that kiss?"

"Right here," he said, before leaning down to capture her lips with his once more. She sighed against them, eyes fluttering closed again and her hands slid up to rest on his shoulders. It was their first Christmases without their families surrounding them, but it was okay, because now they had each other, and that was all that mattered.

* * *

><p>That was a longer one than any of the others yet, although not by much, admittedly. I'll have another up tomorrow. In fact, I might go start it right now. Please leave a review! I love hearing your thoughts about the story and they always encourage me to write the next one. Trust me, without any feedback, these would never get written.<p>

Next: Hugo (As a little second-year. It'll be adorable.)


	5. Chapter 5: Hugo

Hola! Yes, another chapter. Five chapters is five days so far! I'm meeting my goals, except for putting off finished my history essay, but it's not due until Tuesday. I'll be fine. I'm an expert procrastinator, after all. Anyway, this chapter is Hugo's, and it's kind of short, and it ended up being completely different from what I thought it would be, but I kind of like how it turned out. I hope you like it.

~Robin

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><p>Chapter 5<p>

Christmas Eve Study Sessions or Blush-worthy Crushes

Hugo was slightly miffed and slightly excited about his transfiguration tutor coming over that day. It was the only class the he really struggled with, but he struggled with it a lot, so Teddy had assigned a fifth-year to tutor him for some extra credit. He had originally expected them to be obnoxious like James or something like that, but Bridgette was actually really nice.

She was on the Ravenclaw quidditch team and it seemed as though she knew everything about Transfiguration, at least, to Hugo she seemed that way. And she was pretty. Very pretty. And he had a ridiculous crush on her.

So that was why he was excited for her coming. He was miffed because it was Christmas Eve and he didn't want to spend the day before Christmas studying boring and complicated diagrams on Transforming rats into goblets or whatever they were doing in class. He couldn't wait until he could drop the class in sixth year, although it would probably disappoint Teddy.

He heard the rush of the floo in the kitchen and slowly got up from the couch in the other room and wandered in to see his mother greeting Bridgette warmly, offering her some tea, which she politely refused. Hugo knew that she preferred coffee.

"Hi Hugo," she greeted warmly. "Are you ready to work? I'm really sorry it had to be today of all days, but after Christmas we're going away and I've been busy getting people Christmas presents before today," she apologized.

Hugo brightened up as she spoke to him. "It's alright, Bridgette," he told her.

"Alright, you two can use my desk if you want," Hermione said. "It's the neat one. Don't even try to use Ron's. You wouldn't be able to find a space to write on."

"Thanks, Mrs. Weasley," Bridgette said, smiling.

"Oh, please, Mrs. Weasley is my mother-in-law. Hermione," she said.

Bridgette nodded and Hugo led her into the small office where his parents' desks were. He brought the chair over from his father's desk and sat down, giving Bridgette his mother's.

Then they got to work. Their study sessions were always no-nonsense times. First Bridgette would explain the concepts to Hugo in a way that he could actually understand, and then they would work on his homework until it was finished. If it was an essay, she would help him outline and then leave him to write it himself later. After the work was done though, they usually chatted for a few minutes.

The same routine happened today. They finished the holiday assignment he had been given and went over a few tricks to master the specific spell, although he couldn't actually practice it because they were outside of school.

After they were finished, Hugo offered to get her some of the cookies that his dad and Rose had baked the day before. She accepted them happily and they moved into the kitchen. Unfortunately, Rose hadn't told Hugo about the other surprise that she had left in the kitchen, which was meant for later that afternoon when the Potters were coming over.

It was mistletoe, in the doorway between the kitchen and the living room. Hugo and Bridgette walked through together, and then they were frozen to their ground, unable to move their feet. Hugo looked up, bemoaning his luck, as he stood next to the slightly taller, three years older than him, girl. He just knew that Rose was behind this, although he also figured that it hadn't been meant for him. Maybe for their parents... He shook the thoughts from his head and brought them back to the situation at hand, which was very bad.

"Er, Hugo, what happened?" Bridgette asked, confused.

He took a deep breath and muttered, "I think my sister put up mistletoe."

"That's it?" Bridgette asked him curiously. He nodded, utterly confused. "Well, that's easily fixed then."

He didn't have any time to prepare, any time to think about what she meant before she leaned down and pecked him quickly on the lips, releasing the spell of the mistletoe and allowing them to move again. Bridgette continued into the room like nothing had happened, but Hugo was still frozen there, only not by the mistletoe, but from the shock.

"Hugo, are you okay?" Bridgette asked him, sounding worried.

He snapped out of it. "What, yeah, I'm fine," he said, his voice sounding higher than usual. "Cookies, right?"

She grinned and he grinned back at her, probably more widely than was normal. They had their cookies, and then she left. As soon as the green flames faded from the fireplace, Hugo stormed upstairs and pounded on the door to Rose's room until she opened the door, looking very confused.

"Hugo, why are you trying to knock my door down?" she asked, exasperated.

"Why did _you_ put mistletoe in the doorway between the kitchen and the sitting room?" he retorted.

She blushed bright red and said angrily, "_That_ is none of your business," before slamming the door in his face. Hugo looked at it in confusion and then wandered away. Well, it had certainly been an interesting Christmas Eve, although he wasn't sure if he would ever be able to meet Bridgette's eyes again. Oh well, at least he had gotten a kiss out of it.

* * *

><p>Yippee! Another one finished. That makes five down, seven to go, and some of the next ones are gonna be fun, I must say.<p>

Next: Albus (I think. Most likely.)


	6. Chapter 6: Albus

Woohoo! Here's another one! I'm doing pretty well on this, aren't I? Not to toot my own horn or anything like that, of course. I have to say, these two are my favorite pairing of all the ones that I use. I'm just absolutely in love with them. And to think that I created Cait with my own mind. *sigh* Okay, enough of that. Here's the chapter, the longest one yet, too.

~Robin

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><p>Chapter 6<p>

Caught Unawares or Ginny's Plans Finally Fall Through

"Please can we just leave already, Cait?" Albus whined, looking at her with puppy-dog eyes.

"Why should I?" she asked. "Unlike you, I'm actually having a nice time. Get Lily to go with you or something," she said crossly.

"Yeah, like Lily's going to go!" he said. "She thinks that this is all actually interesting. She hasn't come to the realization, that after the fiftieth time, these things are actually extremely boring!" he exclaimed. They were at Potter Manor and Rose, Hugo, Hermione, and Ron were also over, along with Teddy and Victoire. Apparently, instead of her family getting together at Shell Cottage and going to the Delacours for Christmas Eve, Bill and Fleur had decided that they wanted an evening alone instead, so their children had found other ways to amuse themselves. Albus knew for a fact that Louis and Joanne had gone clubbing. The older boy had been boasting about it he previous day.

"Well, I think this is nice," Cait said. "My family never gets together on the holidays," she told him bitterly. Al immediately felt a little bad. He knew that her mother had left when she was little and that her father had a major drinking problem. That was why she always spent so much time at the Manor during the holidays. She even had her own room.

"I'm sorry," he sighed.

She shrugged. "It's alright. At this point, I'm kind of used to it," she said, the bitter tone still in her voice. She brightened up a bit. "At least I can stay here."

Al snorted. "Yeah, where you can hear the same stories about the war repeated over and over again. I mean, for Hugo and Lily they're still finding out the details, but none of these things have been new to me since second year," he complained.

Cait was quiet for a minute and Al sighed again, hoping that he hadn't hit a nerve with his earlier remarks. "Are you really _that_bored?" she asked him. Albus, relieved, nodded earnestly. She glanced at the other occupants of the room. The adults were all reminiscing about their school days, Hugo and Lily listening carefully, rapt with attention. James had disappeared to his room almost an hour beforehand, and Teddy and Victoire were lost in their own little world, snuggling and talking quietly on a couch a little ways off from the rest of them.

Rose was missing, but Cait assumed that she had just gone to the bathroom, or something like that. She usually liked to hear the stories, always hoping that she would learn something new about her parents, hers aunts and uncles, her teachers, or people that she had never gotten the chance to meet.

She sighed in defeat and grabbed Al's wrist, giving him a nod. He grinned at her, taking the lead. They quietly snuck from the room, occasionally glancing behind them to see if their escape had been noticed. The adults all seemed to be oblivious, although Cait was certain that she saw Ginny's eyes flick to them, a small smirk appearing on her face as she watched them leave together. Cait had no idea what that was about.

As soon as they were out of the room, Al and Cait relaxed and she released his wrist. Albus tried to hide his disappointment at the loss of contact and didn't notice Cait's blush. She had held his wrist a little longer than was probably normal for a pair of good friends. Then she remembered something. "We should make sure to watch out for the mistletoe," she reminded Al.

He groaned. Part of him was really annoyed at Lily for releasing all of the magical floating mistletoe loose into the house, but another part of him had been hoping that he and Cait would get caught under it. Unfortunately-or maybe it was a good thing-neither of them had been caught at all yet. Although he knew for a fact that his parents had several times, although he thought that they might have been seeking it out on purpose. He shuddered at the thought, when another struck him. Was she just being very careful to make sure that she didn't get stuck underneath it with him?

The thought made him sick to his stomach, that she would be that disgusted by the thought of kissing him. He shook himself from that thought, as it was making him feel worse, and focused on listening to the instructions she was giving for how to avoid it. He was to look right, while she looked left, so that both sides were covered. They walked quietly through the house and then up the stairs until they were almost to the kitchen, where they were automatically heading, as if some magnetic force was attracting them there.

Al let his guard down for the mistletoe and Cait, beside him, did the same. "So are you coming with us to the Burrow for Christmas tomorrow?" he asked her as they approached the kitchen.

"Of course I am," she told him, laughing. His stomach flipped at the sound of her laugh and he smiled at her. He was truly a goner, and he really didn't mind all that much.

They walked into the kitchen, and, just as they were about to sit down at the table-Al was even already pulling his chair out-they were stuck. "Shit," Al swore, looking up to see the mistletoe above them. "We dropped our guard," he said to her, trying to sound nonchalant. He was unsuccessful-or at least he thought so. Cait didn't seem to have noticed.

He looked down again and met her eyes for a second. They both looked away, blushing. "Well, that was silly of us," Cait snorted. She tried to move to sit down, but was unsuccessful, her feet seemingly glued to the floor.

"And now we're stuck," Albus groaned.

Cait looked up at him again with a quick motion. "What do you mean we're stuck?" she asked hotly. "There's an obvious way out of this."

He didn't understand why she was so angry. As far as he could tell the only way to get out of this was... oh, right, kissing her. He gulped. "Yeah, but I didn't think that you'd really want to do that," he said.

"What? Kiss you?" she asked him, raising an eyebrow. He couldn't understand how she could say that so easily.

"Well, yeah. I mean, we're best friends. Wouldn't it be weird..." he trailed off. Why the hell was he trying to talk her _out_ of kissing him?

"Well, I mean, it's not an ideal situation is it?"

"No, not really," he said, thankful that she agreed with him on that at least. He made the mistake of grinning at her and running his hand through the back of his hair nervously.

"Wait? Why isn't it ideal to you?" she asked him. "I mean, at a party you seem perfectly willing to snog some girl on one of the couches, so why can't you just treat it like that?" Al was getting more and more confused. He didn't know why she was acting like this. In fact, he hadn't even known that she _cared_ that he snogged girls. He was fifteen! What else was he going to do after catching the snitch in the quidditch game? He would have much rather been snogging her, of course, but he hadn't thought that that was ever going to happen.

"Because you're my friend!" he told her. "I barely know those girls, and I don't usually snog them, they kind of... throw themselves at me," he finished lamely.

Yet again, the wrong thing to say. "I don't see you pushing them away," she snarled. Al was _really_ confused. "I mean, like you said, you don't even know them. Any girl in the school would date you," she told him, getting quieter with the last sentence.

Al didn't think before he spoke. "Yeah, any girl but the one I want," he told her. Then he bit his lip. That was a mistake. He hadn't meant to say that. Now she would know that it was her.

"W-what?" she stuttered. She hadn't really expected him to respond to that at all. And now the fight was draining out of her. All the anger that she had held was gone now that she knew that he fancied somebody. And that that somebody wasn't her.

"I didn't mean to say that," Al muttered. They were quiet for a minute, standing there awkwardly, avoiding each other's eyes, each lost in their own thoughts.

"So, who is she?" Cait asked him quietly. Al looked into her eyes. He had thought that she'd known that it was her and just wasn't acknowledging it.

"Wait? You couldn't guess?" Al asked.

She shook her head no. "I could probably guess if you gave me a few hints, though," she said. She wasn't quite sure if she wanted it to know, but it was probably better to know who he fancied. Maybe she'd be able to convince him that she wasn't actually so great, although she would prefer for him to be happy...

Her train of thought was interrupted when he spoke. "Alright. Well, she's a Gryffindor. And she's in our year," he started. He had made his decision in a split second. He was going to tell her, although in a roundabout sort of way.

Cait nodded. She was still hoping it was her, but she was almost certain that it wasn't. He would have told her that. So far, though, the description matched her.

"She's very smart." He paused again. "And she's beautiful." He was speaking more quietly now, looking into her eyes, and they were somehow moving closer together, despite the mistletoe. Maybe it just prevented them from moving farther apart and completely away from it.

"Is she?" Cait breathed.

"Yeah," Al said. "You know what else?"

"What?"

They edged even closer together, only inches apart now. Al could smell the strawberry shampoo that she used in her hair.

"She's standing right in front of me." Then he leaned closer to her, bent his head down, and closed the last few inches between them, closing his eyes and pressing his lips firmly to hers.

At first, she didn't respond, and he was about to pull away when he felt the pressure coming from her lips increase and they started to move slowly against his. He smiled against her lips as their kiss strengthened and her hands moved to rest against his chest. Al moved his hands to hold her waist, and then wrapped his arms around it, bringing her closer to him and changing the angle of the kiss, deepening it.

He felt her tongue brush against his bottom lip and he granted it entrance, opening his mouth and brushing his own against it. He felt a slight shiver go through her and took the time to reach into her mouth, exploring every part, tasting her, savoring her taste.

They broke apart for only a second to refill their lungs before diving right back in again. This time she explored his mouth, reaching her arms up around his neck, winding her fingers into his hair. Al wasn't sure how long they stood there, just kissing, occasionally being forced to release each other to take in a breath. Al was just going to pull back and suggest that they go back to the sitting room when they were interrupted.

"Am I interrupting something?" Rose's voice asked from the entrance to the kitchen. Al and Cait broke apart, stepping away from each other with matching blushes on their faces. Rose was smirking, leaning against the doorframe.

"How long have you been standing there?" he asked accusingly.

"Long enough to know that it wasn't just a simple mistletoe kiss," she told him, coming to sit at the table. Al and Cait joined her, sitting side by side across the table from her.

"And you just watched!" Al exclaimed, aghast.

"Ew! No, I have better things to do than watching my favorite cousin and my best friend make out," she grimaced, wrinkling her nose in disgust. Then she turned to Cait and grinned widely, smugly. "I told you so."

Cait just shrugged, not bothering to deny it as Al looked between them, confused. Cait shook her head at him. "Come on, Al, you can walk me to my room," she said, holding her hand out to Albus.

He took it hesitantly and followed her out, both of them calling goodnight to Rose as they left. However, instead of leading him towards her bedroom she simply brought him to the other end of the corridor, where the seldom-used bedrooms were. "Why are we here?" he asked.

"Because I wanted to get rid of Rose without seeming rude," Cait answered easily. Al looked questioningly at her. "I'll make sure that she understands when I explain everything to her tomorrow," she promised. Al nodded, satisfied, and Cait suddenly looked shy.

"Was it really me, that beautiful, smart girl that you like?" she asked him softly.

"Yeah," Al said. "It still is."

"Then come here," Cait said taking his hand in hers and pulling him slightly closer, capturing his lips for another kiss. Then she muttered against his lips, "Rose did interrupt, after all."

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><p>Did you like it? As you can see, I've been a bit obsessed with mistletoe for the last few, although I think this is the last one, or maybe second-to-last with that particular magical plant in it, so it won't be quite so repetitive. Anyway, aren't they cute? *fan girl squeal* Moving on, please review to tell me what you think.<p>

OH! And special thanks to Dimcairien, who has reviewed every chapter so far! As a loyal reviewer, you receive a homemade e-marshmallow. Enjoy!

And to someone ()-It's too bad your anonymous, or I might actually answer your question. Emphasis on might. Thanks for reading and reviewing.

Next: James


	7. Chapter 7: James

Here's another chapter! Be warned, this one has some angst, swearing, and implied explicit content. Christmas can't be completely happy all of the time, can it? Anyway, I think it's a pretty good chapter, so I hope you agree.

~Robin

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><p>Chapter 7<p>

A New Family or Nobody Should Be Alone on Christmas

"You're staring at me again," Nat laughed, not even needing to turn around to be able to tell that James' eyes were trained on her.

"Can you blame me?" he asked. At the moment, they were hidden away inside the confines of her very large bedroom. They were hidden because her parents didn't know that he was there, or even that he was dating her daughter, and her bedroom was very large because her father was Blaise Zabini and her mother was Pansy Parkinson.

She just laughed delicately and James attempted to look over her shoulder without sitting up. He failed miserably. "Stop trying to look at your present," she scolded him. He just shook his head in amazement. Without looking, she had known exactly what he was doing.

"You know me much too well," he told her.

"I know," she said. After another minute, she turned, holding a brightly wrapped package in her hands. Unlike most Slytherins, she preferred to do these sorts of things without the help of magic or house elves. "Voila!" she finished, holding it out to him.

He took it and shook the box. Nothing rattled, so it probably wasn't joke products. It wasn't too heavy either, so it wasn't a book, although she would know better than to get him a book. He liked to read of course, but he liked picking the books out himself. There was always the risk of it being boring if somebody got it for you, and James Sirius Potter did not accept boring. "I wonder what it could be," he mused, watching her face from the corner of his eye.

"Oh just bloody open it already!" she said impatiently.

He chuckled before ripping the paper off of the gift. He opened the box quickly took out the chaser's gloves that were inside it. They were very nice, made of supple leather. He tried one on and flexed his fingers before curling them into a fist again. A perfect fit. "They're perfect," he told her, "but do you really want to give me another thing to beat Slytherin with in quidditch?" he teased.

"Oh, we both know perfectly well that Gryffindor couldn't possibly lose with its line-up this year," she said, "but you missed the best part."

"I did?" he asked, frowning. He picked up the box again and on the bottom were two chocolate frog cards, placed with the picture facing down. He picked them both up and flipped them over. James Potter I and Sirius Black, his two namesakes.

"How did you know?" he asked her. In his seventeen years of life, he hadn't been able to find either of them, and he didn't know anybody who had more than one copy or who was willing to trade one away. Now he had both.

She shrugged. "Like you said earlier, I know you too well."

"I'm glad," James said, pressing his forehead to hers and pulling her into his arms. "I have something for you, too," he whispered. He took a simple black box out of the pocket of his jacket, which was lying on the bed, and handed it to her.

She took it carefully in her hands and opened the box slowly. Inside it was a beautiful necklace. It was a simple amethyst drop pendant on a delicate golden chain. "Put it on me?" she asked him.

"Of course," James said, smiling at her softly. She lifted the sheet of brownish-red hair from the back of her neck and he deftly did the clasp on the necklace. The jewel dropped right between her breasts, perfectly matching the earrings that he had gotten her the year before, which she was wearing in honor of their being together.

"It's perfect," she breathed, looking at herself in the mirror.

"No, you make it perfect," he argued. She smiled, turning around and wrapping her arms around his neck and stepping up on her the tips of her toes to plant a kiss on his lips. She let herself linger there for a moment before descending to flat feet again. James wrapped his arms around her waist and pressed his forehead to hers once more, looking into her eyes.

"I love you so much," he told her.

"I love you more." He was just leaning down for another kiss when the door burst open and they jumped apart in shock.

"Nattie! Somebody's here to-What the bloody hell is going on here?" a woman's voice said, starting off in an overly cheerful tone before switching so that it almost spat. Mrs. Zabini had just interrupted them.

Neither James nor Nat said anything. "I _said_ what the bloody hell is going on here?" she snarled at them.

Nat took a shaking breath, stepping forward. "Mother, this is James, my boyfriend." James took a protective step closer to her, taking her hand with one of his and putting the other on her shoulder.

"What?" Mrs. Zabini snapped. "You mean to say that this _half-blood scum_, this _Potter boy_, is your boyfriend. That's-" she stopped, seemingly at a loss for words. Then she yelled, with all her might. "BLAISE!"

It was worse than Grandma Weasley's, although probably only because it was coming from somebody that James thought might actually hurt him.

Within seconds, Mr. Zabini had arrived in the room too. He took in the sight, ushered his wife into the room and closed the door behind him, muttering a silencing charm. James was grateful that he hadn't locked it.

"Nataliana, what is going on here?" he asked in an icy tone.

James was about to speak up when Nat shushed him, elbowing him in the stomach. "Daddy, this is my boyfriend, James," she said quietly.

"It's nice to meet you, sir," James said, holding out his hand.

Mr. Zabini looked at it in distaste and didn't offer his in return. James awkwardly dropped his hand back to his side.

"You mean to tell me that you are dating the oldest Potter boy?" he asked his daughter coldly.

"Yes, for over a year now," she said shakily. The intensity of his gaze deepened.

"You know that he is a half-blood? A Gryffindor? His family all blood-traitors?" he hissed. James was reminded of a snake, and wanted very much to strangle that snake, but he repressed the urge, knowing that it wouldn't help the two of them get out of this.

"I love him, Daddy," she whispered.

"Get out of my sight," he told her.

"But-no-Daddy-I-"

"Get out! Now! You are no longer a member of this family! You are not my daughter."

Nat turned to her mother, pleading with her eyes, only to meet a face that seemed to be made of stone, and not the old, crumbling kind, either. She played the last card that she had. "I'm the only heir that you have," she said. "If you disown me, then you're fortune will disappear into the hands of the Ministry!"

"You shouldn't have even been his heir in the first place, you illegitimate bastard!" her mother shouted, saying something that it seemed like she had been holding in for a long time.

James felt Nat swaying in his arms and he steadied her. "What the hell are you talking about?" he asked hatefully.

"Don't you speak that way to me!" the woman exclaimed. "But you two hadn't figured it out. You didn't know that you were shagging a bastard child?" she asked sneeringly.

"I'm not shagging him!" Nat yelled, outraged at the accusation.

"Well of course you are," her mother smirked. "Why else would he want you?"

"Because I love her!" James objected, adding his own voice to the conversation.

"Silence!" Mr. Zabini exclaimed. He looked at his daughter. "You will leave with him immediately, and you will never return," commanded. "If you are still here in five minutes, I will have you physically escorted from the property."

He started to leave but Nat choked out one last question. "Who? Who is my mother?" she asked, her eyes begging to know.

He sneered at her. "Why, your dearest 'Auntie Astoria,' of course. And let me tell you, she didn't want it."

Then he swept from the room, his wife following him dutifully, nose in the air. The door slammed closed with finality behind them. Nat allowed herself ten seconds before ripping her hand from James' and running to her trunk, repacking the few things that she had unpacked over the holidays, along with the photos that she had, although she left those of her mother and father, and a few other important things. Then she took a bag and stuffed as much of her clothing in there as would fit before violently jerking the zipper up.

James watched her in dismay as she exited the room, hauling her trunk behind her, the bag slung over her shoulder. "Where are you going?" he asked her, racing to follow her and taking her trunk. She only glanced at him.

"The Leaky Cauldron."

He put a hand on her shoulder. "Don't," he said, spinning her around. Her eyes were blazing with tears and anger. James had no idea how she possibly could possibly have felt at that moment. He just knew that she needed him.

"I don't have anywhere else to go, James," she told him, shaking his hand off.

"Come home with me." It was a risky move, but was there really anything left for him to do? She couldn't be alone on Christmas, and he didn't want to leave her right now. She'd most likely end up doing something reckless, what with the state she was in.

She froze. "Your parents don't even know about us," she said.

"Well, to be honest, I probably should have told them along time ago. It was going to happen eventually either way, why can't it be now?"

She didn't know what to say to that. "Will they accept me?" she asked him.

"They'll be sympathetic. Mum will give you a big hug, but won't say anything, and Dad'll just watch us carefully to see how we're acting about everything. We've basically taken in Cait, Al's girlfriend, because her dad has some issues. Trust me, Dad didn't have a great home life when he was growing up either. He spent as little time at home as possible," James told her.

She broke down then, falling into his arms, the sobs ripping from her chest. "Let's go," James said softly. First, he banished her trunk and bag to his house, and then, wrapping his arms around her, he spun on his heal and apparated straight into the kitchen with a quiet pop. He hadn't thought about the fact that he probably should have brought her straight to his room and then explained everything to his family. Instead, everyone but his Dad was in the room when he appeared with a sobbing girl-a sobbing Slytherin girl in his arms.

Al opened his mouth to ask a question, as did his Mum, but he silenced them with sharp looks and picked Nat up, carrying her to his bedroom. He lay her gently down on his bed and kissed her forehead. "I've got to go explain to them, okay," he said. She nodded. "Do you want me to bring you some dinner or anything?" he asked her.

She shook her head. "No. I-I should meet them," she said, bravely, her tears starting to subside. "After you've explained, come get me and I'll meet them."

He sat next to her. "You know I love you, right?" She nodded. "They'll love you too, if only because of that."

He left, finally steeling himself to tell his family about the girl he loved, the love of his life, Nataliana Zabini, the fifth-year Slytherin, who at school he had always hated to the eye of the public. Then he would introduce her to her new family... his. This was going to be interesting.

* * *

><p>Okay, so I know it's never really emphasized as Zabini being a complete git in the books, but I think being married to Pansy Parkinson for a few years could to that to anyone, so he kind of turned, well... evil. Though not to a Voldemort standard, of course.<p>

And BTW, the Nat in my future stories will actually be a Malfoy, but I wanted to keep this a bit more canon, so I changed it a bit. Please review, I want your thoughts on Zabini, Nat, and the chapter in general.

Next: Lily (Weird, all the Potters were next to each other...)


	8. Chapter 8: Lily

Okay, we're back for another chapter, and I must apologize for it being so short. It was originally going to be longer, but I have a 5 am flight to catch tomorrow, so need to go to bed early and I couldn't stay up really late writing like I wanted to. Oh well. Anyway, I actually think that it's pretty good, so here you go, Lly's chapter.

~Robin

* * *

><p>Chapter 8<p>

Fake Dates Always End... Oddly? or Damsel in Distress

"I'm really sorry I dragged you here," Lily apologized once again, using underage magic to charm his split lip closed again. Lorcan smiled at her, testing the new skin of his lip, and also because he wanted to smile at her.

"It's alright, really," he insisted. "I got the split lip because I chose to defend you," he reminded her. Lily sighed. That was true. This random bloke that she didn't even know had wandered up to her and grabbed her by the waist. Then he had tried to feel her up. Lorcan had punched him, breaking his nose, but had gotten his lip split in return.

"You didn't have to do that, by the way," she said. They were outside the club now. They had been forced to leave before they got into any more trouble, and Lily had needed to heal his lip, which required magic, and as it was a Muggle club it probably wouldn't have been a good idea.

"Yes, I did," Lorcan insisted. "As your fake date, its job to defend your honor," he said with a smirk.

Lily sighed. "It was a bad idea to even come to this stupid Christmas party. I should have just waited until the usual one at home after Christmas," she said, burying her head in her hands. It had all been her idea, after all.

"It was actually kind of fun until the end," Lorcan said thoughtfully. "A couple of drinks, loud music, lots of other teenagers there illegally, and I got to dance with you all night."

Lily was used to these statements from him, and until now, they hadn't really affected her. And she thought that it might-at least partially-have been the two beers that she had drank, but there was a warm fuzzy feeling going through her stomach at the indirect compliment. "And I got to hang out with you," she said right back.

"Yes, but I'm the one who was really lucky. Every bloke in that place wanted to be in my position," Lorcan stated. Lily blushed. That was a _direct_ compliment.

"I wasn't the only one with eyes on me," she told him. Then it hit her. Were they... _flirting?_

"Oh, come off it," he snorted.

"No, really," Lily said. "You looked quite dashing, at least, before the blood."

"Yeah, that probably ruined it a bit," he agreed.

"Actually, I don't think it did," she replied. "Lot's of girls would like to have a boyfriend that would defend them from another guy without blinking. It's a damsel in distress sort of thing," she said conversationally.

He looked her in the eyes. "So do you like that kind of thing?" he asked.

For some reason, Lily blushed again. "Well, in the Muggle club, it was nice, as I was quite a bit smaller than he was, but if it had been in Hogsmeade or somewhere he would have had bogies flying out of his nose and brutally attacking him before he could even yell for his gran to save him," she said.

"I sure that he would have," Lorcan agreed, laughing at the image.

She grinned at him. He really had a wonderful laugh, and a great smile. She stood up and held out her hand to help him up.

"Shouldn't this be the other way around?" he asked her.

"Probably, but as I fixed your face, I think you should just thank me, although I'll have to do something about your shirt, too," she told him. Concentrating, she muttered a spell under her breath and the bloodstain disappeared, leaving him only somewhat rumpled-looking.

She smoothed the shoulders of the shirt out and then fixed the area over his chest, slightly surprised to feel the muscles through his shirt, although she shouldn't have been. He did play quidditch, on the Gryffindor team with her after all.

Instead of stepping away from her, like he normally would have, he moved closer and Lily was stuck by just how close he was and suddenly realized that he was several inches taller than her and that she had to crane her neck up to look into his eyes.

She didn't see it coming. She didn't expect it when his head bent and his lips gently brushed hers. And she didn't expect to like it. But she did. "Thanks," he said.

He started to step back again, but she moved with him. "Isn't it traditional on a date for the boy to drive the girl home and kiss her goodbye on her doorstep?" she asked slyly.

"Or in this case, the girl drives the boy back to her house, walks him to the floo and then snogs him senseless before he floos home?" Lorcan asked in clarification.

"That would probably be more accurate in this case, yes," Lily said, unabashed, laughing.

"Then I'm all for it," he said enthusiastically, leading her out of the narrow alleyway that they had been sheltering in while she fixed him up and out onto the street. He paused, unsure. "Um, where'd you park the car again?" Lily just laughed and led him down the street by their connected hands.

* * *

><p>Wasn't it cute at the end? And by the way, they're both only fifteen, so technically Lily can't drive yet, but we're going to just ignore that fact for now. Mooooving right along here... Good? Bad? So-so? Give me your opinions and thoughts so that I can ingest them and use them for my future writing! Translation: Leave me a review.<p>

Next: Rose


	9. Chapter 9: Rose

I'm back with another wonderful, and slightly longer, chapter. I really like how this one turned out, and I know some people have been waiting for this chapter, so I hope you enjoy it. Starts off a bit angsty, but it's happy at the end. Or at least I think so. Without further ado, here is Rose's chapter.

~Robin

* * *

><p><span>Chapter 9<span>

Christmas Eve at the Ferret's or She Turned Out Just Like Us

"You can't do this, Rose," Ron told his daughter. "I'm not letting you leave our house for Christmas Eve to go to that ferret's place instead," he said stubbornly.

"Dad!" Rose objected.

"No, I don't want to hear it," he said. "You know what they did to your mother there!"

"Ron, you're being unreasonable. I'm fine with her going," Hermione interrupted.

"She's not _going_, 'Mione," Ron said, as if that was the end of things. Rose was even more stubborn than her father, however.

"I'm going, Dad," she said. "I'm going and there's nothing you can do about it. I'm of age."

"You live under _my_ roof, you will do what _I_ say, young lady," Ron hissed, practically foaming at the mouth in his rage.

"The only reason that I still live here is because I know that you'd be heartbroken if I left!" Rose yelled. She stormed from the room, and then stopped at the doorway and turned around once again. "And if you don't start treating me like the adult that I am than I won't be taking consideration for your feelings any more," she promised menacingly.

Ron collapsed at the table, his head in his hands. "Where did we go wrong with her, 'Mione?" he asked his wife miserably.

"We didn't," Hermione said simply. "She came out just like we did, stubborn, argumentative, and willing to do anything for those that she loves and the things that she believes in." Hermione rubbed his shoulder gently before leaving the room to talk to her surely fuming daughter.

"Rose?" she asked, knocking on her door.

"Come in, Mum," Rose called. The handle turned and Hermione slipped inside. She was extremely surprised to find that instead of the normal neat bedroom, she had walked into a war zone, and that her daughter, instead of fuming and throwing things, was frantically digging through her closet, a slightly wild look in her eyes.

"What happened here?" she asked, looking around with her eyes wide.

Rose sat on her bed, breathing heavily. "I don't know what to wear," she moaned, falling back on the comforter, hands covering her face.

"Oh, Rose," Hermione said, rubbing her daughter's shoulder the same way that she had her husband's a few minutes previously. She didn't usually have to worry about things like this with Rose, she was so independent, always had been. This was obviously a different situation. "What's wrong?"

Rose sighed. Her mum could always see through her so well. "I'm nervous," she mumbled. Then she started to ramble. Once she got started it was very difficult for her to stop. "I mean, I've met the Malfoys before, of course, they pick Scorp off and drop him off at the platform every trip, but this is our first official meeting with me as his girlfriend and I really want to impress them."

Hermione almost laughed, but managed to restrain it. "What about that blue dress you got last week?" she asked. "And your black heels?"

Rose sat up and ran to the closet, pulling out the dress bag. "That's perfect, Mum," she whispered. "Thank you so much." She ran to give her a bone-crushing hug before bodily shoving her out of the room. Hermione closed the door behind her and chuckled to herself. Raising Rose certainly had its moments.

An hour later, Rose was wearing the navy blue strapless dress. It was elegant and fell to just above her knees with layers of the flowing fabric. She slipped on her heels and grabbed her coat to wait for Scorp in the kitchen. He was going to apparate there and then side-along her back to Malfoy Manor.

There was a knock on the door just as she entered the kitchen. She opened it to reveal her boyfriend, Scorpius Malfoy, who swept into the room and wrapped his arm around her waist, planting a kiss on her temple, all in one easy movement. "You look beautiful," he whispered.

"Hello to you too," she replied, moving her lips quickly to his.

He pulled away and hugged her close. "Nervous?" he asked her, eyebrows raised. She nodded almost imperceptibly. "You shouldn't be. They'll love you," he promised.

"Really?" she asked.

"Okay, so Mum'll love you," he conceded. "Dad'll try to act like he doesn't like you-or us- one bit, just to keep face, but by the end of the night you'll have won him over with barely an effort."

"How can you possibly have such faith in my abilities?" she asked him, laughing.

"Because I love you, and I know you better than you know yourself," he told her seriously.

"I love you, too," Rose told him. "Forever."

"I know," Scorpius replied. "Let's go." With that, he tightened his grip on her waist and spun on his heal so that they disappeared into the black suffocation of apparation.

When Rose got her breath back, she looked around in awe. It was nothing like what she had been told to imagine. The front entrance hall was grand, with whitewashed walls and exposed brick, and a high ceiling that arched to a point far above their heads. Before she had even a few seconds to take all of it in, she was engulfed in an unfamiliar hug, a kiss planted on each kiss.

"Oh, you must be Rose," Astoria Malfoy said, almost squealing. "Scorpie has told us so much about you, all good of course, and how beautiful you are. He wasn't even exaggerating. It's wonderful to finally meet you for more than ten seconds at the platform."

Scorpius was blushing off to the side, but stepped forward again to grab Rose's hand, his hold on which he had been forced to relinquish when his mother had separated them. "Mum, this is Rose. Rose, this is my Mum."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Mrs. Malfoy," Rose said politely.

"Oh, please, Astoria," the older woman said, waving off the remark. "I always feel like people are talking to Narcissa when they call me that."

Another voice interrupted them. "And this must be Rose Weasley, Weasley and Granger's daughter," it drawled. Then Draco Malfoy stepped forward, holding his hand out to her.

Rose shook it tentatively. "You know, my mother is technically a Weasley now, too," she told him conversationally.

Draco looked taken aback. "Yes, of course. It's a pleasure to finally meet you, Rose."

"And you," she responded.

"Alright, enough of the chit-chat. Dinner should be ready," Astoria said, waving them off.

Scorpius and Rose walked ahead, holding hands. "You impressed him, you know," Scorpius whispered to her, bending his head down.

"So he's won over?" she asked in an equally low voice.

"Definitely."

* * *

><p>I'm just going to leave you wondering over who says that last line. I'm not actually certain myself, although I have several ideas. Anyway, please review! I need you feedback and encouragement, especially seeing as I'm now officially on vacation and therefore even lazier than usual. So review.<p>

Next: Molly


	10. Chapter 10: Molly

Another chapter is written and up! I think you should all be very proud of my sudden updating abilities, by the way, even if it is always late at night when they are put into practice. Anyway, a kind of sad Molly chapter. And you'll find out more about what's actually going on in the last two chapters, in case you're curious. Hope you like it.

~Robin

* * *

><p>Chapter 10<p>

Drinking Doesn't Make Things Go Away or Grandmothers

Molly was drunk. And she knew it. Not completely, stumbling, blackout, not remember anything in the morning drunk, but enough that she wasn't acting like her usually controlled self, enough to at least get away from some of the issues that she had been facing lately. Well, for a while actually, if she thought about it. Not that she could think all that well, of course, seeing as she was drunk.

It was only around nine o'clock, but she had gotten there early, probably around seven, when she had snapped, needing to escape her screwed up family, her parents fighting, her sister hopelessly naive about what was going on. A half-empty bottle was sitting on the table in front of her and she reached out for it once more when somebody came and sat at the bar stool next to her.

"Molly, right?" he asked her.

She turned and saw somebody that she vaguely recognized, although she wasn't sure of his name. It must have been the alcohol. "Yes," she said, "sorry, but I can't place your name right now."

"Jason," he said, holding his hand out to her. The contact seemed to sober her up a bit.

"You were at Hogwarts, right?" she asked. It was the Leaky Cauldron though, so that wouldn't be that strange. "Gryffindor?" she asked.

"Yeah, I was three years ahead of you," he told her. She nodded, taking a gulp of her drink. The clarity was just making all of the problems come rushing back into her head again. "So what problems are you trying to drink away, anyway? I mean, it is Christmas Eve, after all," he reminded her.

"I know, that's why it's bad," she told him morosely.

"Ah."

"It's just family problems, stressed about work, lonely, ever since my best friend and flat mate moved in with her boyfriend. Although its better than them shagging all over the place," she finished with a grumble. Jason chuckled. "My family is just too much sometimes," she groaned, putting her head down on the table.

"You don't look too good, you know," he told her, sounding worried. She grunted, her hand still wrapped around her bottle, shaking slightly. She sat up and coughed loudly into her arm, like she had a cold.

"I've been worse," she said, attempting to take another big gulp of her firewhiskey.

He intercepted her hand and took the bottle from her carefully, setting it back down. "I don't think so," he said forcefully. "You've had enough tonight."

"And who are you to stop me?" she asked him.

"Someone who cares," he told her. She was taken aback by that. It wasn't often that somebody really cared. Tanya did, of course. They were best friends, but they had both been busy and hadn't had much time to just talk lately. And her parents tried to care, they just weren't really successful. And Lucy had no idea what she was going through. She was the lucky one. She was at Hogwarts, oblivious to what was really going on at home, her news all coming through their mother's cheerful sounding letters, rather than the terse edge that had so often filled her voice as of late.

"Now, I think you should go home," he told her. She stood, shaky on her feet and almost stumbled. He caught her elbow quickly, keeping her from falling on her face. "Or maybe I should escort you," he said worriedly.

"Maybe," she slurred.

"Where do you want to go?"

That was a tough one. She definitely wasn't going to her parents'. That was not going to happen unless she couldn't possibly avoid it. And she didn't really want to go back to her flat either, where it was empty and she couldn't shake the loneliness. She was almost tempted to ask him to take her back to his place, but felt that as he was being so kind, and that she knew him personally-sort of-it would just feel wrong. There was only one other place left. The Burrow. Grandma Molly always knew how to make her feel better, even if nobody else did. "The Burrow," she said. "I need to go to the Burrow."

He nodded, taking her arm and leading her out of the pub and into Diagon Alley, where a few straggling shoppers were just finishing up and heading for home. "I'm going to apparate. Is that okay?" he asked her.

She nodded blearily and he took her arm more tightly before spinning on the spot. They appeared almost silently in the yard of the Burrow, and he was going to just leave her there to go inside herself, but she was still walking quite unsteadily.

They went up to the door and she knocked quietly before going in, not even waiting for an answer. He assumed that this was normal for her.

Inside was a kitchen and there was an older-looking woman bustling over the stove, waving her wand as sponges and suds moved across the surfaces of the room, cleaning everything off. She looked up as they entered and worry appeared immediately on her face. "Oh, give her hear, dear. I'll bring her to the guest room and she can sleep it off until the morning when the rest of the family gets here," she told Jason without even an inquiry of who he was and why he was with her granddaughter. At least, he was pretty sure that was their relationship.

She bustled up the stairs, helping Molly, and he waited awkwardly in the kitchen for her to come back. He wanted to make sure that Molly was okay. She was back within a few minutes and gave him a bone-crushing hug without even asking his name.

"Thank you for bringing her here, dear," she told him, patting his cheek.

"Your welcome Mrs. Weasley," he said, assuming that she and Molly shared a last name.

"Oh please, call me Molly, dear," she told him.

"Jason," he told her.

"Yes, are you her boyfriend?" she asked. He shook his head and she sighed. "I had hoped that she had somebody, that that was why she had stopped showing up for Sunday lunch with the family so often, but apparently not. She's been having a rough time lately."

Jason nodded politely. "I'm just a... friend," he said. "And I hope that it all gets better soon."

"Thank you. She needs more friends, you know."

"I know. And thank you for your hospitality," he said politely.

"Oh, it's nothing, dear, but I'm sure that you have family to see. It is Christmas Eve after all." Jason smiled as she rushed him out the door, knowing that it wasn't because she didn't want him there, but because she needed to tend to Molly. He wished that his grandmother was still around.

* * *

><p>Okay, how was it? Tell me the truth, I can take it. But in order to do that you need to review, and I would love it if you did that. I would love it a lot. Like a dog getting my belly scratched. Okay, I'm obviously over-tired, so you can review in sympathy instead. *nudge nudge wink wink*<p>

Next: Roxanne


	11. Chapter 11: Roxanne

I know, I know, I know. I'm _really_ sorry, really really really sorry, but my Grandma's internet died on the 24th and I couldn't post. I did write this one, though, and I'll have the last chapter up tonight, or tomorrow at the latest. I really will. I'm determined to finish this story, and it's going to happen before I go back to school on Tuesday.

Sorry again, here's Roxy's chapter, which is a little heartbreaking, I have to warn you. Thanks for sticking with me even though this is a week late.

~Robin

* * *

><p>Chapter 11<p>

Abandoned or An Early Christmas Gift

Roxy read the letter through again.

_I'm so sorry about this, Rox. I really am. I just... I can't stay here any longer, what with Mum and Dad's... problems, and some things of my own that I need to sort out I just can't be here._

_I really wish that I could stay, Rox, at least until after Christmas, but I feel like if I stay for that I'll never be able to leave, never be able to find myself, never take the chance that I need to become who I really am, be the best that I can be. I'm sorry that I couldn't give you any warning, but I couldn't give you a chance to stop me, or to follow me. I need to do this myself, Rox._

_Remember, I love you, you're my best friend, and I'll think about you every day that I'm gone. I'll send you a letter every once in a while, so that you know I'm okay and that I'm happy._

_I'm so sorry. I really am._

_~Lucy_

She let out a small sob as she finished reading it. Lucy had been supposed to come over that evening for Christmas Eve, a chance for her to get away from the chaos that her family was right now. However, when she had gotten home that evening, rather than finding Lucy waiting at the door, most likely having forgotten her key and not able to get into the flat, she had found a folded piece of parchment shoved under the edge of the mat.

She had taken it out, stepped into her flat and settled down before opening it and reading it. Three times. It took three times for everything to sink in. For her to realize that Lucy had ran away, that she was gone, that they weren't going to see each other every morning in their flat, or spend time with Roxy's less dysfunctional part of the family during the holidays, or talk late into the night about everything that had happened to them, everything that they had thought or heard or said, that all of that was over.

It had taken the fourth time through, almost an hour later, for her to cry. She was the strong one, the serious one, the one who thought things through and didn't overreact to everything. Lucy was the passionate one, the indecisive one, the one who changed her mind every five minutes. They were cousins, best friends, almost sisters. They always had been. Without the other, they just weren't the same people as they were together.

Roxy didn't know why she had left. Well, she did. It had said in the letter after all, but she didn't understand it. The tears continued to roll down her cheeks and the letter dropped to the ground as her arms wound around her legs and her tears turned to huge gasping sobs of pain and loss.

There was a knock on her door. She ignored it allowing the pain to engulf her completely, blocking everything out. Whoever it was knocked again, more powerfully. Roxy ignored it still.

They knocked again, now sounding impatient. Then they yelled out. "Roxy! I know you're in there. And I really need to talk to you. And I don't care if you don't want to see me because it's fucking important!" The yells were loud enough that she couldn't block them out, couldn't block out the fact that it was _him._ That _he_ was the one knocking on the door to her flat. She hadn't spoken to him in three years. And she never wanted to speak to him again.

"Roxy! If you don't open it in another minute I'll break the door down! And I don't care if you make me pay for it later!" he said, continuing to yell.

That did it. She was angry now. She was angry and she was upset and Merlin did she just want to be left alone and in peace to cry! But that never happened. She wiped the tears from her eyes and stood up, walking to the door. She didn't even bother checking to see how she looked. She knew that she looked horrible, puffy eyes, tear stains, and make-up running down her face. Yep, and her hair was probably a mess, too. But she didn't care.

She opened the door and not even raising her voice, but with absolutely no emotion she spoke. "What?"

He was flabbergasted. His mouth was open and he looked like he half wanted to throttle her for not letting him in and half like he wanted to sweep her up into his arms and make everything better. Luckily, he did neither. "What happened to you? Who died?" he asked instead, in a slightly worried (or at least it sounded that way) tone of voice.

"Why the hell should you care?" she asked him in a colder voice, letting some of her pain shine through. She started to close the door in his face, but he stuck his foot out, preventing it from closing completely. She slammed it and he winced. She almost smirked in satisfaction. Almost.

"Wait, please, just give me five minutes to talk. That's it. Five minutes," he begged. She opened the door and let him in, not saying a word. "Thanks," he said.

"Don't thank me yet. Depending on what you say, I may or may not hex you into a puddle after your five minutes is up," she warned him.

He gulped. "I'll keep that in mind."

"Alright, West, your five minutes starts now," Roxy said, tapping her watch with one thin finger.

He took a deep breath to collect his thoughts and then started. "It was three weeks after we started dating and you still hadn't told anyone but Lucy when _she_ came up to me."

Roxy almost broke out into more tears at Lucy's name, but stayed strong. Her resolve hardened at the mention of the other girl, the one whose name was never going to be said-or even thought-by her again.

"Anyway, she came up to me and asked if I wanted to go to Hogsmeade with her that weekend, and I was supposed to meet you there, and we were dating, and I really liked you, so I said no. She kept pestering me, and then, somehow, she found out about us, told me that she knew that we were going out and that she was going to tell everybody."

He said all of this extremely quickly and Roxy couldn't help but be intrigued. She hadn't really listened to his side, after all.

"She blackmailed me so that I would go with her. Then, when you found us walking together and you confronted us what she told you was all lies, but you never gave me a chance to explain. You just ran, and then you wouldn't look at me or acknowledge me and I thought we were done forever. What she said, that I loved her, that I didn't want you and I was only stringing you along for some fun, and that she had wanted me to end it with you, none of that was true. Ever. And it never will be either."

"Well I never believed that she wanted you to end it with me," Roxy spoke up. "You have a minute left by the way."

West gulped. "Alright, so I've been thinking about you a lot lately, a lot more than I should be, given the fact that you hate me and all." She opened her mouth and he stopped her. "Let me finish. Anyway, I've been thinking about you and tonight I finally realized why. I'm fucking in love with you, Roxy, and I don't think that that fact will ever change. And I think that I have for a long time, but I just didn't realize it. And I know that you hate me, but I just had to tell you that. And I know my five minutes is a bit more than over, so I'll leave without any argument."

He turned to go, but Roxy couldn't let him do that, not after everything that he had just told her. She reached out and wrapped her hand around his arm. "I don't hate you. I never did," she told him.

West froze and slowly turning around. Her hand was still gripping his arm, and they ended up much closer than he had intended. "You should," he told her.

She shook his head. "I could never hate you," she explained. "I loved you then, that's why I could never face you, could never listen, because if I did, I knew that I would go running back to you, and there was no way I could do that, not when you had betrayed me. You see, you could have lied to me just as easily as she had."

"I would never lie to you," he said.

"I know," Roxy said simply.

"I should go, Rox," West said, prying her fingers from his arm.

"Don't, please," she begged as he turned away. The desperation in her voice caused him to turn around and look at her. Her eyes were pleading with him. "Please don't go," she said, tears starting to form in her eyes. "Lucy's gone, she left, and I need somebody to be here, so that I don't feel so alone."

"I can't just stay," he said nervously as she went back to the couch, pulling her knees up to her chest and wrapping her arms around them.

"Please, what I said, that I loved you. It's still true, that's why I never let you talk to me at Dad's shop when you were there helping at the same time that I was, why I didn't want to let you in now. I didn't want the feelings to come back, I didn't want to depend on you."

"Roxy..." he said.

"Just stay. Just tonight. That's all I need," she begged.

He sighed, nodding. "All right, but that's all the Christmas present that you're getting from me," he warned teasingly. "Nothing else."

She nodded and smiled weakly as he wrapped his arms around her, a better gift than any.

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><p>How was it? Don't worry, you'll find out more about Lucy next chapter, it is her chapter after all. I've got it all planned out, and it should be on the longer side, too. Anyway, review and you can chew me out for missing the deadline, but only if you really think I deserve it. Otherwise you can just tell me what you think of the story.<p>

Next: Lucy


	12. Chapter 12: Lucy

Okay, so I know that it's been a bit longer than I promise (like a month), but the final chapter is finally here, which means that this story is complete! Anyway, I apologize for my great lateness, and I hope that you like the chapter. It explains Lucy's disappearance a bit more and gives you a bit about the growing clan of Potter/Weasleys, although it is short, yes.

~Robin

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><p><span>Chapter 12<span>

Return or Merry Christmas

If Lucy was honest with herself, she was worried, worried about what her family was going to say, going to think, how Roxy was going to react. She was worried about what she had missed. Although she had gotten a letter from her mother just a month ago, it had been short, merely asking her if she would be home for Christmas. There was no news. Who was pregnant? How were all the kids? Were there any more kids? Had anybody else gotten married? Proposed? Proposed to? She knew absolutely nothing.

On the outside, though, she was putting on her game face, trying to be brace. She was a Gryffindor, after all.

Farrah, however, seemed to know exactly what she was feeling and reached out to squeeze her shoulder reassuringly.

"You don't have to do this if you're not ready, Luce," she said.

"No. It's Christmas. I need to be with my family on Christmas," Lucy insisted. She was steeling herself now. "Okay, I'll go through the floo first, and then you follow me a minute later."

Farrah nodded and sighed. Lucy knew that she was just as-if not more-nervous than Lucy was.

"They'll love you. I promise," Lucy swore.

"How do you know?" Farrah asked, voicing her fear for the first time.

"They're my family." With that, Lucy stepped forward, grabbed a handful of floo powder, and stepped into the fireplace. A sudden calm overcame her. "The Burrow." She threw the floo powder down and disappeared into the green flames. She was going home.

Roxy was alone in the kitchen, fetching a fresh pot of tea when she heard the floo go off. She looked up in surprise. It was Christmas and the whole family was already there, so who would be flooing in? Her silent question answered itself when she stepped out of the fire.

She looked different, of course. Her hair was cut shorter and the tips were died bright red, and she looked more confident in herself, more comfortable, but all in all, she was the same person. Lucy was back.

For a moment, Roxy couldn't move. She didn't understand what was happening. They hadn't spoken or seen each other in just over a year and she couldn't do anything. Finally, she spoke. "You cut your hair. It looks good."

"Thanks," Lucy whispered. Then it was like a spell had been broken and they both snapped, rushing to hug each other. Then Roxy was crying and the family was starting to stream into the Burrow's small kitchen. Mutters of 'Lucy's back' traveled backwards and out into the sitting room, where everybody had been just a minute before.

Then she heard the floo again and another girl stepped out. She was a little taller than Lucy, with mahogany curls down her back and green eyes framed by long eyelashes. Lucy stepped away from Roxy and took the other girl's hand, leading her forward slightly. The kitchen was silent now, and half the family was squished inside. That was quite a large amount considering some of the recent additions of the past year. Dora and Zachary, Teddy and Vicoire's four-year-old twins, were squeezing their way to the front of the mass. Then there was little Payton, Joanne and Louis' two-year-old son, who was being held by his grandmother.

They were the oldest. There was Tyler (Cait and Albus'), Riley (Rose and Scorpius'), and Kyra (James and Nat's), who were all one. And then there was tiny Jade, only two months old, held in her father's arms. West stepped forward and wrapped an arm around Roxy's waist, passing her daughter to her. Lucy looked at all of them, gathered in front of her and took a deep breath. "This is Farrah, my girlfriend," she said in a deep, clear voice.

Some of the family started to talk, and James even laughed out loud. Roxy almost laughed too. _That_ was why she had left. "You left because you couldn't tell us you were gay?" she asked Lucy.

"No, I left because I was confused and needed to find myself," Lucy corrected crossly.

"Sorry, Luce, but I understand," Roxy said, touching her best friend and cousin's arm.

"Well, I don't," Lucy said, looking at the tiny baby held tenderly in Roxy's arms and then to West. "What the hell happened to you two?"

"It's kind of a long story," Roxy shrugged.

"Well so is mine, and I think I have a lot to catch up on anyway," Lucy replied.

"Let's get started then," Roxy said happily. This was definitely the best Christmas yet.

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><p>So? Did you like it? I thought it would be nice to end with one on Christmas day since the rest of them were all on Christmas Eve, you know? Something a bit different. Anyway, thank you all for reading this story and feel free to check out the other ones if you want. (nudge, nudge, wink, wink)<p> 


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